Physics Problem - Newton's Second Law?
So I'm doing another assignment in the website www.physicsclassroom.com.
So I know that:
a=Fnet/m
f=ma
m=f/a
But, I don't know how to solve a problem whenever there is no force given and whenever the mass of the object is changing. Like this problem:
An object has an acceleration of 14.6 m/s/s. If the mass of the object is decreased by a factor of 2.2, then the new acceleration would be ____ m/s/s. Enter a numerical answer.
So what I don't understand is how we are supposed to find the new acceleration if there is no Net Force given?
Could anyone walk me through step by step how to do this problem?
Thank you in advance!
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Verified answer
You simply assume the force is constant. The way to do that are to solve both situations for the force and set them equal to each other.
When solving for force you get:
f = m a
So there's:
f1 = m1 a1 and
f2 = m2 a2
If we assume f1 and f2 are the same, then m1 a1 and m2 a2 are equal:
m1 a1 = m2 a2
a2 = (m1/m2) * a1
a2 = (1 / 2.2) * 1.46m/s^2
It would appear that they are assuming the force stays the same as the mass changes. If the force stays the same, then any change in mass will cause the acceleration to change.